Welsh businesses get £197m boost from development bank

THE Development Bank of Wales says it invested almost £200m in Welsh businesses in the past year.

The bank looked to support a broad range of businesses across the Welsh economy to help them survive, recover and grow.

In total, the bank invested £197.6m in the 2020-21 financial year.

While £92m in loans came from the Covid-19 Wales Business Loan Scheme, investments from business as usual (BAU) funds also remained stable. The BAU investment of £105.6m provided a range of support for businesses across all areas of the economy and all stages of growth.

The bank claims that more than 2,000 jobs were created and 1,200 safeguarded from BAU activity

Compared to the 2019-20 financial year, the bank says there was an increase of £2m in BAU funding across 402 investments. There were 236 micro-loans, which made up 59% of the bank’s investment volumes.

The amount leveraged from the private sector reduced to £60m from £75.9m in 2019-20, with the increase in property development loans, which attract a lower level of private sector investment, a factor.

Investments were geographically distributed, with £25m invested in north Wales, £31m in mid and west Wales and £49.6m across south Wales.

Property development continued to be a growth area for the bank. The property team completed £48.8m of loans across 37 property development investments, an increase of 43% supporting 402 new homes and 70,892 sq ft of commercial space.

Giles Thorley, chief executive of the Development Bank of Wales, said: “The 2020-21 financial year has been like no other in living memory. Covid19 has had a deep impact on all sectors of society and all businesses.

“What we have seen is that Welsh businesses and entrepreneurs are resilient, many finding ways to work through the pandemic, others totally changing their business or starting something entirely fresh. It’s our job to provide broad support. We’re a generalist investor and work across most sectors and all growth stages.”

Another growth area for the bank was start-up funding, with 122 startup investments in the financial year compared to 73 in 2019-20 (an increase of 67%).

The technology ventures team invested £9.4m of equity funding across 31 investments, leveraging an additional £17.4m from co-investors. This was supported by a greater collaboration between Angels Invest Wales and technology ventures.